Posted
by
Soulskill
on Monday June 27, 2011 @03:41PM
from the angry-birds-3d-will-probably-do-it-too dept.

An anonymous reader writes with this excerpt from Forbes:
"Nintendo started the mainstream push into glasses free (autostereoscopic) 3D gaming with its Nintendo 3DS system earlier this year. While sales were decent for the device, the price point, hardcore focus and lack of killer app games have failed to replicate the mainstream success of Nintendo DSi. But a strong E3 with top-tier 3D games ... should help attract a broader audience to the device, especially once Nintendo offers a price cut. While some have called 3D phones gimmicky, these devices are already commonplace in Asia. And with an influx of new 3D phones entering the market this year, coupled with the Nintendo 3DS, Jim Cameron recently [said] he sees these glasses-free devices as being key for the adoption of 3D TVs in the homes. He said autostereoscopic 3D games will be the entry level for most people to 3D. While the technology for big screen glasses free 3D is still further away, small devices like 3D phones and Nintendo 3DS will show off the technology."

Even a quality gaming system that is part of a phone needs to have a good phone experience as well. Crappy phone + good gaming = mediocrity. Also, am I the only one who thinks this whole 3D push is just more marketing crap? Is the experience unique enough and good enough to make it work it?

One of my co-workers just bought a phone with 3D. His take, and I have to share his opinion, is that "3D is a neat feature to goof off with when you first get it, but after a while you just really want it to go away."

Honestly, it just seems like a way for the big consumer tech companies to milk money out of people who have no sense.

That's not the point. This is a bit like mp3 ringtones - completely pointless from a practical point of view (pure beeps are much more audible) but in a world where phones are status symbols they helped sell an awful lot of new phones.

That doesn't even make sense, if you want a 3D gaming device buy a DS but even the most hardcore gamer needs to send a text, write an email, or make a call every now and then, e.g. phone functionality is a must.

if you want a 3D gaming device buy a DS but even the most hardcore gamer needs to send a text, write an email, or make a call every now and then, e.g. phone functionality is a must.

The fact remains that it's cheaper to carry two devices: one feature phone and one not-a-phone. This is because service for feature phones in the United States is still far cheaper than service for smartphones.

That's what you get when you have deregulated telecommunications. Here in Australia we don't have that problem, a mobile phone is a mobile phone, service & price is the same across the board per provider. It's up to the provider to set the charges, but they can't charge more because one phone is a 'feature phone' and one is a 'smartphone'. That's called profiteering when both use the same services.

In my experience seeing Avatar in 3d was neat, but home theater experiences have been crappy. So many companies are pushing 3D, but its seems like a gimicky oddity\curiosity at best, not a key feature. I cant imaging it will be any better on a tiny screen without those ridiculous glasses.

That can work both ways: great phone + crappy games = mediocrity (see blackberry).

As an aside, I have a 3DS and I think the 3D is fantastic, and more than a novelty, but quickly grew bored of the games (Pilotwings and the horrible Pirates of the Caribbean 3D). Crappy game + cool 3D = mediocrity too.

The lackluster acceptance of one of Nintendo's weaker offerings in the mobile arena, where it traditionally excels, along with the fact that any use that isn't a complete gimmick will restrict the 3D game to a very limited selection of devices(and we all know how developers love cutting into their potential install base), and the assertion that the feature is big in Asia, a market well known for normally not embracing gimmicks and for accurately forecasting the development of the

I'm wondering how the technology behind the 3DS will work on a screen you can rotate? Will you get 3D in both orientations? How much will the picture quality (in either orientation) be affected while 3D is off?

I think the 3DS's launch lineup is its big problem, more so than the 3D gimmick. I got one a week ahead of the release of Ocarina of Time 3D, and went looking for a game to get to play on it after discovering that the included "games" are really kind of stupid. (And, in the case of AR Games, impossible to play with the 3D on. But I think enough people can explain that.) I wound up buying Link's Awakening DX off the virtual console. Probably the best game available for the 3DS at the time, if you exclude exi

I'm not interested in a 3D phone, for the same reasons i'm not interested in 3D TVs, 3D movies, or 3D games consoles; It's not 3D, it's stereoscopy. Yes, the effect is impressive for 3 or 4 minutes. The headache after 20 is less so.

Good for you if you don't get headaches from moving stereoscopic imaging, but saying that it's going to be powering 3D phone sales sounds like a bad business strategy.

Lame... I was hoping this article was about phones getting better EGL or WebGL support for Video Games.

I remember one time when I was testing a "3D" (stereoscopic) device, and it seemed like the coolest thing ever--I felt I really noticed the 3d effect, and it seemed "awesome".

Turns out, the left eye of the glasses wasn't working, and I guess the 3D effect was my own brain inferring the depth the whole time. I'd suggest trying this out if you're ever testing a "3D" technology: cover/close your left (or righ

My title was misleading, sorry. I don't mean to say there is no value in stereo video. Just as stereo and 5.1 audio improve the experience, stereo video has the ability to improve the experience. But I'm tired of the media treating this as though it's a whole new paradigm. (Ever been to an IMAX movie and watched the beginning where they show off the 10 speaker surround sound system? My reaction usually is "That's really cool. But start the movie already")